Hide Away
by Yecart
Summary: Castle and Beckett take their new found romance into hiding, in the hopes that they'll have time to figure things out and get rid of the target on Kate's back.
1. Always

**A/N. Hello, I tend to sometimes write stories sporadically because I figure if I want to read something that I'm after I may as well write it myself. I have an idea where I want to take the characters which is basically, 'On the Run', though I know this has been done, and the abandoned cabin in the Woods is far too Cliche. Never fear, hopefully I'll come up with something a little more riveting (no offence if you were someone who wrote a cabin piece, I will give credence to the idea of alone in the wilderness, because let's face it, who wouldn't want that and because technically I have written one, though to be fair it was way before the finale). So that is basically the direction I would like this to take, but even after 3000 words they were still talking crap in bed, so we'll see. This could potentially just be a lot of crap from an overactive imagination.**

* * *

After what was arguably the most intense night of his life Richard Castle looked at the sleeping beauty that was Kate Beckett who was wrapped around him like a cocoon. She still had a smile on her face, which he couldn't help but smirk at. The cave man inside was pleased that he was the one to put it there, and that she seemed happy.

It all happened so fast, there were a lot of questions he didn't have the answer to, but after Kate had apologised and admitted that he was more important than the pain that drives her to find those responsible for her Mother's killer, he stopped thinking and he just felt.

He loved her with all his heart and she had shown him that she loved him just as much. He replayed the evening over again in his head and he picked up on things the more he did. Kate was drenched, soaking really when she had arrived at his front door; she'd been out in the rain. Her hair was still damp but mostly dried, it had gone frizzy. He had only seen it like that once before when they'd taken a dive in the Hudson. It's cute.

Kate shivered a little in his embrace and he reached down to find the rest of the bed covers to help keep her warm; considering that she might catch cold having never really properly gotten dry - it was probably a little late for this consideration. He was sure he warmed her up, their heart rates had been high for hours, they had even been sweaty, she would be fine. It was still too early to be awake and after a while Rick eventually fell into an exhausted sleep.

Kate was the first to awaken and despite the evenings activities she felt well rested and fresh. Her head was still on Castle's chest and she could hear the even rhythm of his heart beat. she knew straight away that whatever choices she had made yesterday didn't matter, the only one, the right one, was that she was here with Rick; her true North. It wouldn't matter now what changes were to come because Richard Castle was her home, she wouldn't let that slip through her fingers again.

She knew he'd want the detailed version of events when he woke and she knew that she would tell him. Only now, in the quiet of the morning did she begin to reflect on the other choices and how it may impact their future. The main reason Castle had followed her to begin with was because of her job, and the job had always defined who she was. She truly loved her job, but losing sight of Kate would push Castle away. She'd come so far, but was confident that Rick wouldn't love her less because of it.

Yesterday it had seemed like the only thing to do, everything was falling apart, Castle had been right. Or was it Rick now? She couldn't stop interchanging, they both felt intimate. Either way, he loved her and asked her to stop, said that if she loved him back she would stop, and she let him walk out of her life. The fact that he had forgiven her was upsetting, when she understood how much hurt she had caused.

What if she had slipped from the roof, and Ryan hadn't been there to catch her? Rick would never have known how much she loved him, that he really meant everything to her. He'd have been devastated and would surely feel as though he were to blame for being done with her and not having her back. Tears slipped down her face, and dripped on to his chest.

Rick woke up to feel Kate silently shaking next to him, at first he thought that she was shivering and that she had caught a cold. Then he felt the drip of her tears upon his chest and realised that she was crying.

"Kate?" Rick asks.

She looked up as his face and gave him a small smile through his tears, "Hi," she whispered.

"What's wrong?" He questions.

"I'm happy, I really am, but I just, I feel terrible for everything that I have put you through. I woke up, and I was thinking about all the things that happened yesterday and I felt selfish and I couldn't imagine being without you, or you having to suffer not knowing that I love you," she whispers to him sadly.

"Things could have turned and out differently," he murmurs, "but we were lucky and we got, what is this? Our fifth chance?" He smiles.

Kate smacks him, "I'm not joking Richard! I can't even imagine the pain I would have caused you and all my friends because I couldn't see that there was more worth in the living then chasing the dead. If I had died, even though I would be dead, how could I be without you? How could my soul survive such loss? I used to think that my mother's murder was the worst thing of my life, but if I were to lose you, if I were to have died yesterday, it would truly have been the greatest tragedy of my life. The real tragedy would have been that I had never loved as my mother had taught me to love, that the gift she had given me would be wasted," she hiccupped and the tears kept coming.

"Lucky for you and I that those talents were certainly not wasted, I love you," he whispers whilst kissing the side of her head.

"I love you too, you know?" She smiles back at him.

"Took you long enough to figure it out," Rick chides.

"It didn't take me long to figure it out actually," she smirks.

"Oh? I'm sensing a story here," Rick prods.

"I won't keep anything from you," she tells him.

"Then by all means, stop hedging and tell me a story pretty lady," he sits up on his elbow to face her.

Kate counters his move and faces him, "I didn't trust you when we first met. I knew that you were a ladies' man and that we would be a one night show, and honestly that part of my life stopped in college," she starts.

Ricks eyes perk up but one look from Kate shuts down any bridge into that conversation, so he saves it away for later.

"I didn't expect you to stick around for as long as you did, I thought it was an interesting addition to have you with the team, you made things more interesting and I guess the flirting was intellectual enough to have me a little intrigued, and you were ruggedly handsome and all," she smirks and Rick's eyes light up.

"After awhile things had never really progressed, you'd matured a lot but never really made a move so when Demming from robbery asked me out I went with it. Nobody decent had really taken notice of me in a while so I figured 'why not'," she sees him flinch and goes on to explain.

"You have to understand that I didn't know where we stood back then, I didn't take you seriously and you had never actually been forward enough to start anything since our first case," she tells him.

"It's okay Kate, I was to blame here too," he admits.

"I don't understand? How are you involved," she asks him, confused.

"Demming asked me if you and I had a thing and I stupidly told him that there was no flag on the pitch, when really, there was definitely a flag on the pitch. I didn't understand my own feelings at the time. You were right, at the beginning you and I would have been a one night thing but after a while working with you, I began to feel something real, something that I hadn't felt in a really long time. I just wasn't willing to admit it at that point," he tells her.

"You were jealous?" Kate replies.

"I was green," he admits.

"You invited me with you to the Hamptons that Summer," she prompts.

"Yeah, I remember," he replies whimsically.

"I had already agreed to go with Tom and then out of the blue you asked and I," she stops to gather her thoughts and not get worked up about the past.

"You what?" Rick asks gently.

"I was conflicted," she admits.

"Conflicted? You mean, you actually considered..."

"Yeah," she admits shyly.

"Even though I was essentially dating Tom, the first sign of interest from you sent me into a tailspin. I knew that wasn't a good sign and everyone around me was trying to hint that you weren't around for the books, they didn't understand the complicated mess that is you and me," Kate sighs.

"So what actually happened?" Rick asks.

"Well first I broke things off with Tom, regardless of what did or I guess I should say didn't, happen between you and I, there was clearly enough evidence to suggest that my heart wasn't really in it with Tom," she explains.

"You mean you didn't go with him?" Rick asks confused.

"No, no Rick, I never went anywhere that summer, I think I just worked and stayed home brooding and eating my feelings and then getting drunk with Lanie and then hitting the gym obsessively, I had quite the little food baby going on," she chuckles.

"You made a food baby because of me? That's, well, that's sad but at the same time it's kind of sweet," he kisses her and she frowns at him.

"Trust me, it wasn't pretty, definitely not a great time in my life, though I don't think that it was ever your fault, it was mine," she tells him.

"I only took Gina because that was how I dealt with rejection back then. It's easy to just erratically live life so you don't actually have to think about it. Although Gina and I did get back together we didn't spend a lot of time together, I had to finish the book and Gina shopped and did her publicist things that she does, we never had time for each other which was probably why our marriage failed too. It was unfair to her anyway when my heart wasn't really in it," he explains.

"Wow, our timing really does suck doesn't it," Kate admits.

"Yeah, it's never been stellar, but hey, better late than never," he smirks and she hits him again.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be explaining to you when I knew I loved you, are you going to let me finish?" She asks exasperatedly.

"Yes dear," he smiles.

"I was angry at you when you came back, it took me a lot of time to get over letting myself have feelings for you and then making them disappear. I thought you were gone for good. Then you managed to weasel your way back in and you were still with Gina, which surprised me. After that I knew I had to get past it if I were to work with you and forget about being hurt. It wasn't long after that when I started seeing Josh," she continued.

"They do say the best way to get over someone is to get under somebody else," Rick replies gruffly.

"It wasn't like that, Rick," She puts her palm to his face to calm him and he kisses her hand to apologise.

"I'm sorry," he tells her.

"It's okay, I love you," she smiles.

"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that," he looks at her.

"I'll never get tired of saying it," she looks back, before being drawn in to his kisses.

After their impromptu make out session she continues, "Things were never really great with Josh. He was just a consolation, but I could never admit it, that I was trying to move on instead of dive into something with him. As much as I wanted to I couldn't. I really liked him, but like I told you before, it wasn't enough," she figured that explained it.

"What about after the shooting," Rick questions.

She had thought he might not ask, but wasn't going to not answer, "Well, after I sent you away, Josh offered to help me out and to look after me, I was still reeling from all the things that had happened and then with you saying that you loved me, my mind was all over the place. I wasn't sure what to do, Josh had stay here to try and make a go of things with me and I thought I owed it to him," she paused.

"So you let him look after you?" Rick sighs, hurt.

"No," she replied.

Taken aback Rick raises his eyebrows, he knew that she'd broken up with Josh but he hadn't entertained the possibility that he hadn't helped Kate through her recovery.

"When I agreed to have him look after me his exact words were, 'Good, better me than that writer, I'll make sure he never bothers you again'. God, Castle, the way he said it hurt, I wasn't sure if it was the pain from the bullet in my heart or if it was his words but he wasn't there and he couldn't possibly have known how it went down, but he blamed you, when you tried to save me, if you hadn't pushed me the bullet might have been more direct and I could have died," she whispers the last part with tears in her voice.

"Hey, it's alright," Rick hugs her tightly to his chest and she rests her head on it.

"I was angry that he would take it upon himself to make sure that you wouldn't 'bother' me, he made it sound like he was going to go and beat you up. I'd already mistakenly sent you away out of my own selfish fears and then he was going to go and make it worse when I loved you. I couldn't stay around everything, I had to get out so I told Josh that he was wrong about you and that I couldn't see him anymore. He was angry and argued that he had saved my life, I didn't say anything. So he asked me, who saved my life and I said Richard Castle, and that was it, over. My Dad let me recover out at his cabin and I had all my physical therapy out there and I got my head together. There wasn't a day when I didn't think about you and what you had said. I didn't know how to deal with it though. I had a lot to work through as you know. I never wanted to keep that I heard you a secret, but I thought you understood that day on the swings," she tells him.

"I understood, but when I found out that you'd been lying about remembering the shooting I figured the only reason you'd lie was because of what you heard me say, and the only reason to lie would be to not acknowledge it, and why would you not acknowledge it? I figured because you didn't love me back, I felt very foolish, and then went and did some foolish things," he replies.

"Like that flight attendant," Kate replies looking hurt.

"I never slept with her, Kate," he promises.

"You didn't?" Kate raises an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I couldn't. Every time I wanted to commit to bedding someone that wasn't you I couldn't do it, I didn't have those feelings for them, you had all my feelings. I hated you for that. I didn't know how you felt," he frowned.

"We've both made some bad choices but we do love each other, that much is true," Kate whispers.

"I think I really started to entertain that thought about us after you saved my bacon with slaughter, you put your job on the line,".

"We love each other," she smiles.

"Right, which is all that matters. Everything else is in the past," he agrees. "So I think I can fill in the rest of the details then but you didn't specify when it was you knew you loved me, you said you loved me when you were fighting with Josh, was that when you realised?" he questions.

"Oh, right. No, I knew long before then. I was walking out to get a soda from the machine one afternoon after a case, I accidently heard the end of a conversation that appeared to be the end of your relationship with Gina,".

"Oh, yeah, I remember that case, you cheered me up with your magic trick," he smiles and Kate raises her eyebrows. "Oh, you are dirty minded aren't you!" She rolls her eyes.

"I know that is when I had evidence that I truly loved you, I knew my feelings weren't just attraction. Though I was may be just a little bit happy that you had ended things with Gina I was more concerned about how you were, and I realised that I wanted you to be happy, that you were more than just some flippant playboy, that you had real feelings,".

"After what you said about Lanie and Esposito it got me thinking about whether I was truly in it with the right person, and when I thought about it I realised that I was in it with the wrong person, again. Me and Gina's bubble burst a long time ago and there was no bubble the second time round. I wanted forever,".

"I guess you and I want the same thing then," Kate twines her hand with his.

"Yeah, I know we do. Speaking of bubbles, are you and I going to have our own little bubble at the precinct for a while? Do you think the guys will figure it out? I assume there won't be any PDA at the precinct but you know what I mean," he smiles expectantly.

Kate sighs, "That's one of the things I probably need to explain about yesterday,".

"What?" Rick asks confused.

"I'm not going back to the precinct," she tells him.

"What? What do you mean?" He asks.

"Esposito and I got suspended yesterday for going behind Gates back. Then I resigned from my position,".

"I'm sure she'd understand that you were under a lot of pressure yesterday, I mean, you didn't sign anything did you?" He asks with a worried expression.

"Rick, this wasn't just some rebellious breakdown. I resigned because none of it mattered anymore. In my heart and in my head I'd already picked you over my job and my obsession with my Mother's unsolved murder. It almost got me killed, and I decided yesterday to walk away," she tells him.

"Even before you knew where we stood?" He questions.

"The heart wants what the heart wants, Rick. If I had come here yesterday and you rejected me I would have told you that I love you and I would have fought for you, but if you had truly decided that you couldn't be with me, I'd have left you alone," she says sadly.

"But you love me," Rick says.

"I do, but if you didn't want me, I would have respected that. I don't deserve you," she murmurs.

"You deserve all the love in the world, Kate Beckett," he tells her.

"How can you say that? After everything that I've put you through," she argues astonished.

"You joined the academy because of what happened to your mother, and you have spent countless hours working on her case, vowing to find those responsible and bring them to justice," Rick says as though that explains his point.

"So?" She hedges.

"So, you would give up the dedication of the last 12 years of your life because you love me. That deserves a happy ending even without the fact that you also quit your job which was the lifeline to that case and your influence in solving it. Not only that, but you do love your job, you've told me so," he states the facts.

"I love you more than my job, and I love you more than getting killed trying to find answers and justice that won't bring back my Mom," tears fall down her face and Rick wipes them away with his thumb.

"Then this has nothing to do with deserving my love. This is the kind of love that can't be broken because it just is, it's an unconditional love, the best kind. You are my forever, Kate. Nothing can change that, no matter what happens, no matter what you do, no matter what anyone says, I love you. The only reason we ever hurt each other so bad is because we love each other so much. You can make whatever decisions you like about your future, go and get your job back if you want it, because the future is still ours, you don't have to prove how much you love me, I can feel it, I can feel it right here" he points to his heart with teary eyes.

"I don't know about anything right now, but I'm sure about us, we'll figure things out," Kate tells him placing her hand over his heart and kissing him soundly.

"Hey! I guess this means we won't have to worry about anyone coming after you anymore,".

"I should hope not, I mean really, it's the very least they could do," Kate doesn't believe for a second that this is possible. She knew she had opened a can of worms and that Gates was going to have questions.

* * *

**If people like where this is going I shall continue to write long winded descriptions of a romantic runaway romance. You know, if they ever get out of the bed. **


	2. I will try to fix you

It wasn't until they had gotten up for breakfast that Rick started to notice the worry in Kate's face.

"Hey, what's wrong," he asks.

"It's-, Rick, I don't believe for one second that what happened yesterday was the end of our troubles. I think Maddox will try to kill me one way or the other and I've done what I can already to put distance between me and the case but what if it's not enough? What If I have put you and Alexis in danger?" She explains wide-eyed.

At the mention of Alexis, Rick decides not to placate her, "You're right, we should be playing this safe, we may not be as safe as we think, or at least we can't be sure," he agrees.

"What are we going to do?" Kate asks.

"Well, I'd have to explain to Mother and Alexis, but I think I have an idea. Now that Alexis has graduated she has her big break before college, and she is supposed to spend some time out in California with Meredith. I know a place we could go where I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be followed, we could lay low for a while," he suggests.

"Where?"

"Big Bear," Rick smiles.

"Big Bear? As in Big Bear Lake? I think my parents have been there, my dad has a photo at home from a fishing trip he went on before I was born," Kate said, thoughtfully.

"Yeah, we wouldn't be far from Alexis and we wouldn't be too close to Meredith. There are only a couple of roads in and out, we could rent a cabin!" Rick exclaimed.

"True, it is mountainous though, so I expect it would be starting to get cold there, does it snow?"

"Yes, it does, there are ski slopes and everything. Plus, who would follow us to the other side of the country into the snow? We can regroup and decide what to do,".

"What about Martha?" Kate asks.

"I've been thinking about how to persuade her to come. She won't want to be around Meredith, but I mean, Alexis would be there and Meredith would be busy, at least if she were there Alexis might have some company," he contemplated.

"That's assuming Alexis would be alright with this, what was the original plan?" Kate asks.

"Well, I was taking Alexis to California and we were going to spend some time out there together and she was going to stay with Meredith for a while too," he hedged.

"So really, I would be stealing you away from your daughter, who already dislikes me," Kate states matter of fact.

"I know you and Alexis have some things to work out but as long as I am happy Alexis will let us be, and I'm sure in time she'll understand; that is, if she doesn't in the beginning which I'm sure she will when I tell her," he explains.

"Tell me what?" Alexis questions having suddenly arrived home.

"Alexis! I didn't hear you come in, how was the party?" Rick recovers quickly.

"It was great Dad, but what's going on? What do you have to tell me?" Alexis questions looking between her father and Kate who is only dressed in a baggy shirt that clearly belonged to Rick.

"Well, pumpkin, the thing is, Kate and I want to run away together," he said quickly.

Alexis's eyes widened and she looked stricken.

"Not like that Alexis," Kate quickly intervened. "What your father is trying to say is, we think it would be best to lie low for a little while, for safety reasons. If we go we'd all go together," she assures her.

Alexis looked between them more confused than ever. "I don't understand," Alexis frowns.

"The man who shot Kate tried to kill her yesterday Alexis, and today we decided that we're not entirely sure that he won't come back to finish the job," Rick tells her seriously.

"What does that have to do with us," Alexis challenged and Kate cringed at the jab.

Rick frowned at Alexis for making this difficult but didn't hesitate to stand with Kate. "It has everything do with us. These people won't stop, and there is a lot you don't know, but understand that they know that I love Kate-".

"And they know that I love You and your Dad, and Martha," Kate adds.

"Right, and Kate is worried and I think legitimately so, that we could potentially come to harm over this, and I think it would be best to get out of here for a while until we know where we all stand in regards to this matter," Rick waits for Alexis's reply.

"Wait -, You love Us?" Alexis questions, looking at Kate.

"Of course!" Kate replies.

"I don't understand. One minute Dad wants you out of his life and is moving on and the next you turn around and decide to involve us all in something dangerous? That isn't love, Kate!" Alexis shouts.

"Alexis!" Rick shouts, angry at her accusing tone.

"Well? It's true isn't it? You only wanted him once he was gone, and Kate Beckett always get what she wants when it comes to you," Alexis stares down Rick like she is disappointed in him.

At this point Kate has tears forming and doesn't know how to speak past the lump in her throat but she feels that this is the only chance she'll get to say something that matters.

"Alexis, I know that this might not make any sense to you but please believe me when I say that I have loved your father for a long time and I've loved you and Martha from the moment I met you. There have been a lot of things for me to sort through about my life, I never expected to have to deal with this infuriating man and I never thought I could fall in love like this. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you both but I know where I stand and I don't want to put any of you in danger. So even if you don't agree with going away with us, you have to at least consider staying out in California with your Dad for longer than you planned and convince Martha to go with you," Kate paused for breath and to see how Alexis would respond.

"Kate! You are coming with us, regardless of how you might feel Alexis, I won't leave Kate," he tells her adamantly.

"No, Rick. May be some time away together would be good for you both. It is after all what you planned. Alexis is right you always bend to my will, even when I'm not trying to guide your thoughts and I'm selfish for thinking that we could work this out,".

"Kate, no..." Rick begs, devastated.

"I think it would be best, I can go away too, my Dad has that cabin remember," she smiles weakly.

"Kate, they would know about the cabin, you can't hide somewhere like that," he tells her.

"It's okay, I'll think of something. Alexis is right Rick, one moment we hate each other and the next we're in love? May be we are just pathetic and this is just a big mistake," she whispers.

Alexis watches this all unfold as though she weren't even there, she sees the desperation in her Dad's gestures as they whisper, loudly enough for her to hear.

"Kate, the opposite of love is indifference not hate, hate is passion and we have passion Kate, for each other, you can't deny that," he was almost in tears himself.

"Rick, I love you. You know I do, but I have hurt you and your family enough, may be after we are sure that this is all done with we can work on things then, when it's safe. I can't ask you for more than that," she tells him.

"Stop!" Alexis yells, and Rick and Kate turn to look at her. "You'd really make us go and hide? Even if you weren't with us?" Alexis questions.

"I don't want you to hate me, Alexis," Kate whispers. "I just want you all to be safe, and if it bothers you that your father and I are in a relationship we can put that on hold until you can trust me again, I know that just because your Dad is forgiving that it doesn't mean you are," she tells her.

"Well, that won't do," Alexis says. "I'll just have Dad more depressed than when he'd never had you, it would be despicable of me to take you away now," Alexis rolls her eyes and Kate senses there is some hope.

"I'm sorry, Kate. I feel like all the anger I've felt towards you has been about your lack of concern for Dad's wellbeing, but I can see now that you really do care; about all of us. I do understand that you can't control everything Dad does, but it was scary, Kate. Watching him almost get shot, or when he was trapped in that bank. None of those types of things happened before he met you," Alexis explains. "I guess I always saw that you and Dad had potential but I figured you weren't interested. I mean, it has been four years, you can understand why I would have my doubts? I can't have Dad upset like that, not when I'm going to be at college and can't keep and eye on him," Alexis says pointedly.

"Of course I understand Alexis, there has been a lot going on. Miscommunication, misunderstandings, being scared. I have wanted to be better for you all, I've been trying really hard. I've been seeing a therapist and working through a lot of things. I thought your Dad understood that I was trying to get there, I didn't mean for him to lose hope, but I needed to heal physically and mentally," she said tearfully whilst Rick held her hand.

"So, does this mean that you and Dad are together? Are you saying that this is something permanent?" Alexis asks carefully.

"I can't see myself loving anyone the way I love your Dad, I would consider this something permanent in my mind," Kate answers looking at Rick.

"I like the sound of that," Rick says, kissing her temple.

"Then I am very happy for you both!" Alexis tells them, smiling.

Rick looks almost shocked at this turn around and even more so when Alexis joins them in a group hug.

"What convinced you?" Rick asked puzzled.

Alexis smiles coyly, "Oh, I was fairly certain the moment Kate said that she loved us all to your face, but I had to be sure that she understood the depth of the situation,".

Rick just stares at Alexis open mouthed wondering at the ways of the female mind. Kate just smiles and shakes her head huffing out a laugh of relief.

"We love you too, Kate," Alexis admits.


	3. The Plan

**a/n. Just letting everyone know that I am aware that technically it should probably be Summer and therefore there shouldn't be any snow in big bear, but for the story's sake we are pretending that its cold. **

* * *

Now that Alexis had sorted things out with Kate, and Kate had filled him in on everything that had happened, Rick could not be happier. Of course, there were certain things on his mind. The possibility of the danger, how to convince his mother to go with them and perhaps stay with Alexis and Meredith. He didn't really want to take her to the cabin, mainly because some privacy with Kate would be nice, and she could be in more danger if she were with them.

Kate seemed to be in less of a panic about ripping the Castle clan apart. The less she has to worry about the better, in his mind. They couldn't be sure that there was any danger. The sniper could have taken her out on that roof, but he didn't. Kate does like to be in control so he knows there will be a plan, protocol to follow. So far though she has been quiet. Normally this would bother him but he knows that it's just how she processes things. She was probably forming a plan in her mind right now.

He wonders if perhaps he could take over. These men that she is up against. They're professionals, they've had eyes on her for a while. They know how she thinks. May be he needs to be the one who drives this train.

"Kate?" He calls from the bathroom

"Yeah?" She answers and he walks out towards her and sits down on the bed.

"I don't want you to worry about anything. I know that is probably the one thing you hate hearing from me right now, but what I mean is, I will take care of this trip. I can make it seem like I went to California with Alexis and you and my Mother can be like ghosts," he tells her.

"How do you plan on doing that, Rick?" She questions with a raised brow.

"I know people. I can do things on the down low," he winks.

"Even though I don't think it will be enough, I'll hear what you have to say," she replies.

"Alright!" He smiles excitedly.

Kate smiles back at him, pleased to see him looking less serious, "Go on, 007,".

He gets up takes her hand and leads her out of the room and onto the couch.

"Alright, I have a private jet. So, getting out of here quietly is no problem," he starts.

"Wait. Do we actually want your going to California to be quiet? I mean, the fact that I'm with you, needs to be quiet, but -" she looks up to find him frowning at her interruptions. "Sorry," she apologises.

"Anyway. The getting there isn't going to be a problem. I think it will take far too long if we were to try to go separately. I already figured you were thinking of including your bike in this plan," he calls her on it.

She frowns, nods in acknowledgement but doesn't add anything.

"I think we both need to be on the plane. It is however, big enough to carry the bike. So I think we could maybe use it in getting you to and from the plane," he looks up at her.

He sees that she hadn't thought he would go there, she had thought he would try to protect her to the extreme.

"I know you probably didn't expect that, but I decided that if this were a story this is how it would go," he looks worried even though this is his tale to spin.

"Keep going," she encourages, intrigued.

"I thought considering the sniper now realises you aren't dead that may be a problem to him. I'm basing everything here on the fact that he wasn't following you last night. If he doesn't know you are here, but expects that you are, Alexis and I can leave rather obviously from out the front of the building with our bags and everything; and if he is watching. You aren't with us," he smiles. "Plus if he knows we had a falling out earlier in the case, he might not expect you to come here anyway,".

"Alright, I'm following, but what about Martha? Assuming she will go along with all this," Kate asks.

"Well, that's where things get a little bit trickier. I was thinking that exactly one hour and fifteen minutes later you and my Mother zoom out of the undercover secure car park together on your bike," he tells her nonchalantly.

This time, Kate raises both eyebrows in astonishment, "I was worried about talking her into going to California, and you're telling me I have to talk her into getting on my bike, never mind the ridiculous times you just made up?"

"I know it seems ridiculous. I just, I think it's the only way. See, if he were watching, he wouldn't be expecting the fourth person. You don't normally ride two up I'd imagine, so it would be easy for him to deduce that it couldn't be you," he tells her rationally. "Oh, and you'd be taking _my_ bike. That way he wouldn't recognise that either," Rick says triumphantly to Kate's shock.

"You have a bike?" She questions, taken aback that he had never mentioned it.

"I thought I would freshen up my skills when Alexis wanted that scooter," he admits.

Kate isn't sure but she sees his logic, and can forgive him for not saying anything earlier about the bike, "Then what?"

"Well, during the time that you and my Mother are preparing for your little ride, Alexis and I would have gotten to the plane sorted everything out for your arrival and then taken off,".

"What? I thought Martha and I were going to meet you at the plane?" Kate asks exasperated.

"Well, just in case he thinks you were in the town car, I figure it would be good to make a show of you not being there, by the time you arrive the plane will be over in the back lot of the airfield next to my hangar, you can ride your bike right on up the storage ramp and we take off together," he finishes.

"Okay. I guess this could work. I'd probably have to give any potential followers the run around on my bike," she ponders out loud.

"You just be careful with my Mother," he cautions.

"Of course. What about Lanie, my Dad, Ryan and Esposito?" She asks.

"I'll go and see each one of them personally and whisper in their ear that you are with me and that they shouldn't worry, that we are hiding, and I suppose I could give them each a burner phone to contact us in case of an emergency," he tells her.

"I'm wondering whether or not I should warn my Dad. I mean, if they can't find me and I'm not dead, they're going to be suspicious. They might hurt him, Rick," she tells him worriedly.

"Alright, well I'll just give the burners to Lanie and the boys and get one of them to go see your Dad and tell him to make tracks," he suggests.

"Yeah, that could work. It's got to work," she looks at him desperately.

He moves closer and cuddles her, "It will".

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "I guess we'll just have to convince your Mother to go a long with it all. Plus you know you are supposed to register our names on that flight, how are you going to give the FAA the run around?"

"It's okay, I can have it all done. I don't want you to worry about any of that. I know you are concerned about who we can trust but I can assure you that everything will be tight on my end of the game, you just need to get yourself and my Mother to Teterboro," he assures her.

"How will I get on the tarmac?" She questions.

"I'll have someone waiting to let you in through the truck gate," he answers confidently.

"Right, okay, so it shouldn't take me more than forty minutes to an hour to be sure I'm not being followed, I'm guessing the best time of day for this is just after lunch so we could be away by the afternoon, right?" She hypothesises.

"Yeah, that's my guess. It will take a little over five hours to get to California and it will be nightfall by then. I figure we can land in a little airfield over in Santa Monica. Mother and Alexis will be met with a car and you and I will cover up and get on the bike," he finishes.

"That all sounds good, except, I wonder how the bike will go once we have to start the climb at big bear. It's cold this time of year, there will probably be snow," she questions.

"Hmm, you make a good point. We might have to make a bike storage and car swap along the way,".

"Perhaps drive off the plane into a hangar?" Kate asks, getting into the clandestine nature of their story.

"I like the way you think Detect-, uh, Kate," he winces.

"It's okay Rick, it's been a big part of my life, might take a little getting used to and some time for it to sink in, you're not hurting my feelings, I haven't lost anything, I've gained everything," she tells him truthfully, and he can see it in her eyes.

He holds her tighter, "that means a lot," he whispers.

"I know," she whispers back.

"You guys really are pretty cute," Alexis tells them from her position at the bottom of the stairs.

"How long have you been sitting there?" Rick asks in surprise.

"Long enough to hear about your master plan. Grams on a bike? I'd pay to see that!" Alexis chuckles.

"Well, it's the best thing I can come up with," Rick pouts.

"I'm not criticising Dad, I think the plan will work, I'm glad Kate pointed out the logistics of the bike issue though at the other end. After we split up I realise it wouldn't be prudent for us to contact each other, and I'd be a lot more worried if you were on a motorbike," she tells them.

"Yeah well, I have a hangar there, we can just stay on the plane until we get in there, disembark at the same time and hope to God nobody is following either of us, or if they are that they're not following you, Alexis," he tells her seriously.

"I understand the risks Dad, and I told you that I believe this is the right thing to do," she replies hugging her knees to her chest, a sure sign that she was still nervous about the whole thing.

"I'm sorry that I'm bailing on our Cali trip, Alexis," Rick tells her.

"It's okay Dad, you and Kate have been a long time in the making and I don't want to take that away from you. You've always been there for me, we're a team, but now I'm passing that torch to Kate, she is going to look after you now," Alexis smiles at them.

Rick smiles as Kate tucks her head into his neck, "this might not be for as long as we think, as soon as I get the okay I'll be straight in to get you both," he promises.

"I know you will, Dad. Don't worry about me, I'm sure I will have fun with Mother dearest and if not, I'll have Grams, you just worry about keeping safe, both of you," she looks up and acknowledges Kate.

"We will, Alexis," Kate promises.

"That's all I ask, and now, I'm going to leave it up to you guys to convince Grams. Good luck," Alexis smiles and runs up the stairs as the front door to loft swings open and Martha Rogers enters.

"Richard! Kate! What a surprise," Martha begins, eyeing her son for information on the turn of events. She was unaware that things had picked up between them and could see they looked more than cosy on the couch.

"Martha, hi," Kate adjusts her position.

"Now, now, don't be shy, have you two kids got something to tell me?" Martha beams at them.

"Mother!" Rick warns, not wanting her to embarrass Kate.

"I love Rick," Kate says, without preamble, smiling.

"Oh darling! We all knew that, I'm just glad you two finally got things sorted out. You're perfect the two of you, oh! I'm just so happy," she announced spinning around with her hands in the air.

Rick and Kate smiled at each other, knowing the happiness Martha felt for them was the feeling they were surrounded by when they were with each other.

"Kate darling! Tell me everything," Martha squeezes herself between them and Rick takes it as his queue to move.

"Would you ladies like something to drink?" He questions.

"Sure," Kate replies.

"Mother, your usual?" He asks and Martha nods shooing him away.

"So Kate, tell me how this all came about, the whole story, the truth and nothing but the truth," Martha smiles at her and Kate hates to think she might wipe that grin from her face.

"Well, Rick and I had a fight, about, my Moms case," Kate began.

"Ah, yes, I assumed there had been some fall out," Martha replies, not giving away her own knowledge of her sons secrecy.

"Anyway, I felt betrayed and then, then he has the audacity to tell me that he loves me and gives me this ultimatum about letting go, and I felt so out of control. In short. I made the wrong choice, I was angry at him," she tells her quietly.

"Esposito and I got a lead and we found Maddox, the man who shot me at the Captain's funeral. He was too strong, and just like Rick predicted, he was going to kill me. He threw me off of a building and I managed to cling to the edge just long enough for Ryan to reach me before I fell," Kate looked up to see Martha was shocked.

"The whole time that I was hanging there, the only thing I could think about was that I'd never see Rick again, that he would never know how much I loved him back, that I regretted not getting here," Kate was surprised to be swept up in a Martha Rogers all out hug.

"Oh Kate," she whispers. "Don't cry,".

Up until that point she hadn't even realised that she was crying and she moved to swipe away the tears and regain her composure to finish telling her story.

"Esposito and I got a real lashing out from Gates, and we were put on administrative leave as punishment. She said that I had dishonoured the badge. So I told her I quit," Kate once again looks up at Martha.

"Oh my!" Was Martha's only response.

Kate gave her a small smile to show she was okay and then continued, "I went to my Mother's grave and I told her I was sorry, and I went and sat on a swing set that Rick and I had a discussion on once, so I could think. I was so lost, I couldn't believe that there was actually something more important to me than my Mom's case. Doctor Burke has been working with me for almost a year to get me to see it and I never knew until I was hanging from that building," she explains.

"And then, well, I came here. I tried to call first, but those calls were rejected. I knew that I had to be the one to make the move this time and that it was also potentially too late. That's when -".

"We kissed and made up, end of story," Rick interrupts, handing them both their drinks, Kate thankful for his quick thinking.

Martha simply beamed, "That's quite the story you have there, I'm glad for you both, you need to get to making me some grandbabies while we are all still young!"

Kate spits out her coffee in shock and Rick evil eyes his Mother. After the awkwardness settles down, Rick gets down to business.

"I'm glad you approve Mother, but there's more. Kate and I think it would be prudent of us to lay low for awhile. We don't know whom we've upset. She's never gotten this close before and we are fairly certain none of us will be safe. We've talked it over with Alexis and she agrees that we all need to leave immediately. I know you have a life here Mother, but it would only be until we are sure it's safe to come back.

Martha looks between the two of them weighing up the seriousness of the situation and concludes that she had better take their advice.

"So where are we going then? Italy? Miami? The Caymans?" She perks up at her last suggestion.

"We are going to California, where we were hoping you and Alexis could stay so Meredith can spend some time with Alexis, and Kate and I are heading up to a cabin in Big Bear, somewhere I don't think they'll think to look. We think it would be safer to be somewhere out of the way. We have it all worked out," he tells her.

Well darlings, if you believe that this is a matter of personal safety I will have to take your word for it. I can't say I'm happy about being around Meredith, but someone needs to be with Alexis before she goes off to college and if it can't be you, I'd like it to be me, God knows Meredith will have other things on her mind," Martha replies.

"Good, that's good. I guess, that it's all sorted then. You better go and start packing, Alexis is upstairs, you can discuss plans with her," he smiles and waves his Mother off up the stairs.

"Aren't you going to tell her the details, Rick?" Kate questions.

"Of course, but much closer to the time, that way she can't back out or try and change anything," he replies cheekily.

"Richard!" They here from upstairs from an outraged Martha Rogers.

"Oops, guess I should have mentioned that part to Alexis," he cringes.

Kate just shakes her head and goes back to the bedroom to help Rick pack. She has no clothes of her own bar the ones she turned up in last night. This was certainly going to be an adventure.


	4. Plan in Action

A/N. Thanks for reading. I'd love some grammar tips if I am getting anything wrong. :) _No copyright infringement intended. _

* * *

After Kate managed to talk Martha down from her hysterical outrage, Rick got to work on ordering some phones so that he could pay their precinct friends a visit. He had found that it was impressive watching Kate reach out to his Mother in a way that he could not. He watched as she had appealed to Martha's love of the arts and magic, and like the flick of a switch his Mother had calmed down and worked through the fear in a more rational manner. He was fairly certain that Kate had also mentioned something about the potential of holiday cabins and grandbabies, but, he didn't want to get his hopes up.

Kate approaches him at his desk in his study, where he had been brooding for some time, whilst waiting for hurricane Martha's abrupt ending.

"You know, you could have just told her straight up and avoided that mass panic," Kate tells him, crossly.

"Yeah, I know. You did deal with that remarkably well though, for a first timer," he smiles.

When the silence lingers he cringes, and looks up only to see Kate giving him an unimpressed look. "I didn't mean.. what I meant was, she doesn't usually listen to me, and I would have tried to appeal to her sense of the dramatic too, only she would have known I was pulling a shifty on her," he explains.

"A shifty? I, was not in any way trying to pull one over on your Mother by appealing to her dramatic senses. When you deal with people with respect you can trust them to make the right decisions. Perhaps instead of springing things on your Mother you can learn to break them to her more gently,".

"I'm having a friend of mine drop those phones off in my mail box downstairs, as soon as I get the okay, I'm going to collect them and rendezvous with Ryan and Esposito," he changes the subject and gets things back to business, oblivious the eye roll Kate sends him.

"What about Gates? She won't want you at the precinct. As far as she is concerned you are an appendage of mine, and I'm out, and so is Esposito remember, administrative leave," she points out.

"I'll get them to meet me at the morgue. That solves the Gates problem. I'll leave it up to Ryan to let her in on the fact that we are hiding, other than that though I think it's best that the boys play dumb. We can't be sure who to trust on this, you've said so yourself,".

Normally he would expect some kind of retort but she obviously sensed his serious mood because she remains silent.

"Just be careful, Rick. We've come too far to lose it all now," she eyes him worriedly.

"Hey, everything will be alright. We don't even know what kind of danger we might be facing yet. Once I speak with the boys, particularly Ryan, I'll be able to find out what's been happening since the showdown yesterday. I'll give them the phones and the instructions. I was also thinking that we should hand over everything we have to Gates. I thought about getting Ryan to do it but I thought it might be dangerous for him to be carrying that kind of information around, you know, considering everything," he gestures wildly with his hands.

Kate moves to sit on the desk, "I guess you'll have to give them my best, let Ryan know that I'm not mad and Esposito that I admire his willingness to stick with me; they're true friends," she tells him quietly. "Gates is the only one with the power and dare I say it, the willingness to pursue this at a higher level. We can only hope that it works, we can't hide forever, hell, I don't even like hiding in the first place. It's only since I chose you that I've let this go, so forgive me if I feel a little out of control right now,".

"I know how hard it is for you to not be in control of this, but I think we've learnt now that you never were in control of it. It controlled you Kate, but you beat it; you have me," he tells her openly, not hiding any of his emotions.

"You really did save me, Rick," she smiles at him, takes his hand, and they breathe silently taking in everything that had lead to this breakthrough in their relationship, before Rick breaks the silence.

"What about Lanie? She'll be there too remember. There's no way for me to keep her out of this and come out on the other side with my balls intact; and we know we're both pretty attached to them, probably me more than you, but that's just biology," he fidgets.

Kate smiles, raises an eyebrow and shakes her head, "You are correct in thinking that it would be stupid to not let her in on what's been happening. I had a million missed calls from her and she'll be pissed off that I've left her worrying all this time. You'll have to explain, and may be quietly when the boys aren't watching butter her up, you can tell her that we're in love, and not to hurt you because I said so, especially if she ever expects to be an Aunt," she tells him triumphantly.

"Really? I, yeah! I can do that," he smiles back at her, impressed that she is so easily willing to even think in that territory after his Mother's lack of restraint in mentioning the _grandbabies _she was expecting. It also confirmed that perhaps it wasn't too soon to be getting his hopes up, and that she truly was serious about a future with him.

"Good," she leans in touching his cheek, rubs noses gently, moves in as if to kiss him but moves away at the last second, leaving the ghost of an almost kiss behind.

He sighs. He knows they definitely have to have the kid talk soon. All these hints being thrown around was sweet torture, but he would save that talk for later.

Their conversation is interrupted by the ringing of the phone on his desk. A house phone.

Rick see's the number from the lobby. The phones had arrived, "Send it up, Ray," he tells the buildings gopher.

Rick makes sure that everyone is out of sight before opening the door and receiving the package. He uses his biggest jacket, the one with the bigger pockets, packing the phones inside. Lastly, he grabs his USB with all the case information up to date, seels it inside a DVD case, he chooses die hard. Placing it inside the package the burner phones came in, he tapes it back up and rewrites the address to Victoria Gates, Twelfth Precinct.

On his way out he hands it to his doorman to put in the post. He didn't want to be late for his date at the morgue.

* * *

He felt that he had been smart in the way that he'd set up the meeting. He called Lanie, said that he was worried about Kate, and would meet to speak with her at the morgue and at the end he bluntly included that he need to speak with Ryan and Esposito as well. He only hoped she understood. From her hesitation, he guessed that she had. He was betting on the fact that Lanie would know something was up because if he had really been worried about Kate he wouldn't have been so calm, and Lanie knows that better than anyone. Plus, she would be well informed of yesterday's events by now.

He takes a cab to the morgue and the whole time tries to look as worried as he can, keeping up the impression that Kate is not with him. He doesn't think that he's been followed but knows how important it is to keep up the appearance. He gets out of the cab and rushes into the morgue.

Lanie is there waiting for him and takes him into one of the bays where Ryan is sitting silently by himself.

"You better tell me what the hell is going on Castle or I will slap you!" She tells him angrily.

"Shouldn't we wait for Esposito?" Rick asks.

"I'm here," Esposito responds from another corner of the room that Rick hadn't spied him in.

Clearly there was some bad blood between Ryan and Esposito, but this was not the time for infighting.

"Look, I'm going to have to keep this short and sweet, so it's best you all just listen carefully. I'm sure by now you all realise how close Kate came to being meat on the sidewalk yesterday," he pauses for effect and the downturned heads tell him everything he needs to know. "We've talked and she's decided that this case isn't worth her life or anyone else's. She doesn't want it to control her anymore. However, she also thinks that maybe she's pushed too far this time, and that she has put my family in danger. She's fine, by the way, just anxious to get out of here for a while," this seems to get them all focussed again.

"I'm turning in all the case related stuff to Gates. Ryan, you can let Gates know when she comes to ask you, that you don't know where we are, just that it was necessary for us to hide, for safety reasons. We are doing as she wants and leaving this to someone else to sort out. I have here for you each a burner phone, they're already pre-programmed to dial our phone, but don't bother trying to trace it because this is old school, no GPS and we won't be making any calls from it.

It's for emergency or necessary contact. Alert us to danger, or when the coast is clear. It's best I don't say anything more. Just that, Kate wanted Ryan to know that she isn't mad at him and she is thankful for him saving her life; as am I. Esposito, she values the loyalty you've shown in sticking with her to the end. She doesn't want you boys to fight, you both did the right thing and if it had gone down any differently she'd be dead. Be good to one another, and stick together; for Beckett," he tells them and they nod.

"Oh, and also, Esposito, Kate would like it if you could get out to her Dad fairly soon to tell him to go lay low, she's worried that if they can't find her they might go to him. I know you've been put on leave, so whatever you can do to help would be much appreciated," Rick asks and Esposito nods.

The boys seem to put aside their differences with a handshake and Rick accepts this as confirmation that things will not be left in pieces.

"I'll see you boys when I see you," he nods at them and they move away to talk between themselves.

"Now, Lanie, don't think I've forgotten you. Kate says to say she is sorry. She couldn't call from her phone, we had to destroy it, last night when she came to my place Maddox wasn't watching, at least we assume he wasn't so that was her chance to go off the radar. We have to take that chance Lanie, we're in love and we want to stay that way," he tells her quickly.

Lanie had been silent the whole time from both frustration and trying to take in the seriousness of the situation; not to mention the fact that Kate had been holding out on her. Instead of the tirade of crazy that Rick had expected, she only nods, wipes away a tear and pats him on the back. He can't help himself when he adds, "She'll tell you all about it as soon as she can," and winks.

"Make her happy, Castle, and for God's sake don't tell her that I cried," is her only reply.

"I promise," he tells her.

"Hey Castle?" Esposito stops his discussion with Ryan to question the writer.

"Yeah?" He answers.

"You better let us know a general location just in case we need to warn you that someone's on to you," Esposito tells him.

"California," is his only reply, knowing they could probably find them if they really needed to.

He hugs them all, wishes them all safety, and that he hopes they will all see each other again soon. It was nearing lunch time and he had a few calls to make before he got on the road with Alexis to the airfield.

He makes a good effort to appear upset and beside himself once again as he waits to wave down a cab, just in case he is being watched. It isn't too difficult considering he is worried about the safety of his family back at the loft. He prays that his plan will work, and that he and Kate can share a late dinner in a cabin. A place that only they will know. He checks his watch, they were really going to have to make a move as soon as gets back.

* * *

Yecart


	5. Escape

_No copyright infringement intended_

As soon as Rick arrives back at the loft Kate and his mother are already hugging Alexis goodbye. He walks to his study to collect his bag that contains everything that he and Kate will need at the cabin. He lets out a deep breath, knowing that his families safety is on the line and that his plan was not fool proof.

"I'm nervous about this, Rick," Kate wraps her arms around him from behind.

"Me too, but as far as we know we could potentially be acting paranoid. Remember, this is a precautionary measure," he attempts to reassure her.

"Have you set things up yet?" She asks him.

"As soon as I get to the plane I'll make the necessary arrangements, we will circle and be back in the hanger within the hour, shouldn't take any longer, it can't, you and Mother need to be on a direct course straight onto the plane as soon as you get to the airfield," he reminds her.

Kate lets out a deep breath, "I'm too frightened to say goodbye," she whispers holding him close.

"Then don't, I will see you later, Kate," he holds her tightly and she hides her face in his neck, breathing in his scent.

She doesn't watch as he leaves his office or when he says goodbye to Martha. She tries to focus on anything other than the closing of the front door, but by the time it clicks she has no control over the tears that make their way down her face.

Before she is even aware of it, Martha is holding onto her shoulders and guiding her to sit down on the couch for a moment. She brings over some coffee and pats her hand, knowing that there isn't much to be said.

"Thank you, Martha," she whispers.

"It's alright, Kate. Perhaps I am not as good at calming the nerves as you were earlier, but if I know my son, there isn't anything for us to worry about, you'll have to get used to that; having someone look out for you," Martha smiles.

"I'm looking forward to getting very used to it," Kate takes Martha's hand and squeezes.

"I thought so," Martha smiles knowingly.

"I'm sorry that this has happened. That I couldn't let it go, even for Rick. Well, I mean, I did let it go for him, but I may not have done it in time," Kate tells Martha worriedly.

"By the time we get on that plane my dear all these worries shall become just a memory," Martha soothes.

"I know what you are doing for us, Martha. I appreciate it. I know you were looking forward to running a small production with your school," Kate admits.

"Ah, yes, well, these things happen, and I am most certainly willing to oblige you and Richard if it means you two have finally gotten your act together!" Martha tells her bluntly.

Kate blushes, "Thank you, Martha. I'm glad that we have your support,".

"Don't be ridiculous darling, you are the best thing to walk into Richard's life since Alexis was born, and after four years there is no doubt in my mind as to your intentions. You've certainly never been interested in Richard for his money or status, in fact I rather believe you found it off putting. You have to excuse me, I have been watching the two of you for some time, and if you were to have realised your feelings back then I think you would have resisted far more. Richard needed your friendship before he could have your love," Martha tells her.

"Perhaps it was me who needed _his _friendship. Even,...even Captain Montgomery told me that he kept Rick on because he was good for me," Kate smiled at the memory.

"Then you are good for each other, and in my experience, that's very hard to come by," Martha sips her own coffee in contemplation.

Kate, upon finishing her coffee, checks her watch. It had only been half an hour since Rick and Alexis left. Nobody had come up to the loft, which at this point was a good sign. Maddox hadn't come to case the loft, meaning the chances of them being followed might be even lower than she had initially expected.

"I suppose I am going to have to 'gear up', as Richard would call it," Martha huffed unhappily.

"Oh, don't worry Martha, I'm sure that you will rock leather," Kate smiles encouragingly.

Martha smiles back, taking their coffee cups to leave in the sink.

Meanwhile over at Teterboro, Rick and Alexis had made it safely to their plane, and were getting ready to do a victory lap, to make their 'journey' appear legit. All the paper work that is to be filed makes it appear that it is only the two of them, the pilot doesn't know anything about the extra passengers coming aboard and has strict instructions not to leave his cabin area. As far as he is concerned, they are coming back because Rick wants to bring his motorbike and had only decided at the last minute, forcing them to circle while he pretended to make some calls and then land and wait next to the hangar. The technical parts of the plan were going off without a hitch.

"Dad, do you think they're alright? I wish we could call them," Alexis whispered worriedly.

"I know pumpkin, I'm worried too, but I'd know in my heart if something was wrong. I always do. We have to ban ourselves from our phones, I know that's going to be somewhat difficult but I'm willing to do it for everyone's safety; they'll be fine," he replies, reassuring them both.

"Kate! Slow down, Oh! This is terrifying!" Martha yells as she clings to Kate.

"Just hold tight, Martha. We can't afford to get a tail now and it won't be much longer," Kate reassures her, confident that they hadn't been followed.

A quick check of her watch and Kate knew it was time to start her approach to Teterboro, where, if the plan had succeeded, Rick and Alexis would be waiting diligently for them next to the hangar where the storage ramp should be down and she can ride straight on. The take off would be quick after that.

Just as Rick had promised the gate had been left open for them; just enough. From this point Kate had to rely on Martha's knowledge of the whereabouts of the hangar. She could sense Martha's slight hesitation when she pointed to the hanger and the plane was nowhere to be seen. That was, until they rounded the hangar and could see it was stopped on the other side.

"Hold tightly, Martha," Kate exclaimed as she powered up the ramp. It was bigger than she had expected, but then she realised a smaller jet would not have been able to carry a motorbike, and when did Rick ever do anything small.

"That was my excitement for the year, kiddo!" Martha tells Kate breathlessly.

"Are you okay, Martha?" She asks her, concerned.

"Oh, fine dear, just rather shocked that you can drive like that, and that you haven't been in some kind of accident!" She exclaims.

"I don't ride that much these days, only occasionally and rarely that recklessly, but I assure you I was in control the whole time, I promised Rick I'd look after you," she smiled.

"Kate!" Rick popped his head down at them from a man hole above a ladder.

"Rick! We made it!" Kate tells him proudly.

"That you did, my love," he smiles happily. "Mother! That's quite a look you're sporting," he eyes the leather.

"Oh, shut up you," she tells him, and Kate smirks at his shocked expression.

He gives them both a hand up into the main part of the plane, Martha first with a kiss on the cheek and a big hug. Then Kate, greeted with a passionate kiss that lasted a little longer than was appropriate. They broke away when Martha cleared her throat loudly, still hugging Alexis.

"Drinks kiddo's?" Martha held up a couple of champagne bottles.

Rick just shook his head and Kate smiled, declining and then taking her seat next to Rick. The plane was already taxiing down towards the run way.

"How was the ride?" Rick finely asks her while Alexis is talking to Martha quietly.

"It was good, I think Martha didn't find it as unbearable as she thought it would be," Kate smiled at the memory.

"Great, I'm glad there were no hiccups," he holds her hand rubbing gentle circles.

"What about you and Alexis? Everything run smoothly on your end?" She questioned in return.

"Yes, I think so. As far as I know we are off the grid as soon as we take off. I've organised everything, as soon as we got on board I made sure things have been taken care of at the cabin, ready for our arrival. Nothings in my name so there is no paper trail," he tells her proudly.

"I'm glad you've thought of everything," she leans her head on his shoulder tiredly.

"Well, I figured you could use a break from dealing with all this, and besides; if there is one thing I'm good at doing, it's scheming," he wriggles his eyebrows and Kate smirks happily.

"Thanks, I think you're probably right. Do you... do you think that we will have to hide away for very long?" Kate asks, even though she knows the answer, she just wants the reassurance that only he can provide.

"It's hard to tell at this point, but I doubt we would ever get bored," he tells her suggestively whilst kissing a spot behind her ear, making her shiver.

"Mmmm, I suppose we do have things to look forward to," she smiles and snuggles into his embrace tiredly.

It seems like only moments, when in reality it had been three and half hours when Martha wakes them both from their intimate slumber.

"Richard! Wake up. We need to go over what's going to happen," she explains the abrupt awakening.

Rick looks at his wrist, annoyed at the intrusion, "Mother, we have another hour and a half before we land, things have been taken care of, it's going to be alright. Kate and I will be safe, and so will you and Alexis. Well, as safe as you can be around Meredith," he smiles and Martha frowns.

"What Rick means to say, Martha, is that he has sorted everything. I'm confident that we can just go about our business like we discussed back at the loft," Kate reassures her, yawning.

"I can't help but worry that something will go wrong. How often does Richard come up with a fool proof plan?" Martha points out.

"Hey!" Rick grunts.

"Well, if you want a fool proof plan, you get a fool to make it," Kate smiles cheekily.

"Look, we have nothing to worry about, everything is set, I have several diversions set up, so even if someone is trying to follow us, they will have a hard time knowing which trail to follow; I've thought this through. I'm not going to lose everything we've fought so hard for," he explains to them all gripping Kate's hand tightly, and not elaborating on the 'diversions'; Kate suspected that there were none, and that he was relying on his actions appearing obvious, he wasn't off the grid, she was.

"What about us, Dad?" Alexis asks.

"You and Mother will be fine, as far as the records show, we are all going about things the same way it would have appeared if we weren't running. Just, instead of me being out here in California with you, it will be your grams. If everything has gone according to plan, and I suspect it has, it will look as though, Kate is out there somewhere on her own, that she couldn't possibly be with us or me," Rick explains.

"Yes, that's right," Kate confirms. "I believe I was off their radar when I visited your Dad last night, they wouldn't have expected me to go to the loft,".

"I hope you are both right," Alexis tells them worriedly.

"If they can't find Kate in New York surely they will be willing to let it go, if she isn't even in the state she can't be messing things up for them, perhaps they will believe that she has given up," Martha interjects.

"May be when their guard is down someone will get lucky," Kate whispers.

While Martha and Alexis chatted away about their plans for the summer, Rick thought it would be a good opportunity to inform Kate about everything that he had set up.

"Okay, so here is what I've come up with. Firstly, I've decided that staying in a cabin that I own, or that belongs to a buddy would be traceable. So we are going to be staying at what is essentially a bed and breakfast. I know of the owners, they can be trusted to keep quiet, they keep to themselves, don't have a clue who I am. This time of year it's pretty quiet, I booked over the internet, so they don't know it's us turning up and couldn't possibly tip anyone off accidently," he began.

"Wow. You really have thought about a lot of things," Kate replies pushing her hair back over her head.

"Don't stress, it's all covered," he reassures her, smiling. "We have their biggest cabin, I booked every room," he smiles again, only cheekier.

"How many rooms?" Kate asks, worriedly.

"Five. It has the breakfast room and lounge area as well, but I figure there won't be many people this time of year so we'd just have to keep up our cover if we ever run into anyone,".

"Rick, aren't you forgetting something?" Kate hints.

"What?"

"You are rather recognisable, you know, famous author and all. It might not take someone to many leaps of logic to realise who I am and call some damn magazine photographer," she points out.

"I've thought of that," he smiles.

"Oh really? Please do enlighten me," she cajoles.

He pulls out a packet of hair dye.

"Blonde? Really? See, I knew you had a type," she pouts.

"It's not for you, it's for me!" He defends.

Kate stares at him, bewildered. He sees the change on her face as she attempts to picture him as a blonde. First confusion, then deep concentration and then a raise of the eyebrows; yeah, she knew he'd look hot.

"What about me? Do I bother with a disguise?" Kate asks, hoping she could get away without one.

"I think this should cover us, I mean, people are only likely to recognise you if they were to recognise me, so I'm the obvious choice. Besides, I like you as a brunette, though you do have that sun bleached gold look going on. Your hair has changed so much in the last couple of year I doubt anyone would recognise you from back in the promoting book sales days," he concurred, referring to the magazine that had once come to the precinct.

"Yes, well, you will certainly look more legitimate as a blonde than I would. You do have blue eyes. At least you picked something believable, and not black. It's always so obvious when someone looks a little too striking with black hair and blue eyes.

Rick makes sure to cover over the other colours he'd brought with them, just in case she didn't go for the blonde.

"You know me, I've got style," he joked.

"I should be able to help you with this before we land, I was an expert hair experimentationalist in high school," she smiles.

"Oooo, do tell! What was your colour? Red? Blue? Oh, I know, orange!" He prompts her.

"Pink," she replies sheepishly.

"Really? So what spurred that on?"

"I was dating a grunge rocker, and my parents would have freaked out if I'd gotten a tattoo, so I did the next best thing; hair styles and clothes," she tells him; Martha and Alexis eaves dropping from the other side of the plane.

"Oh, but you do have a.." he was cut off by her hand covering his mouth and her eyes darting to the right to clue him in to their listeners.

"If you ever want to be doubly sure of that fact any time soon, I'd zip it, mister," she growls.

Rick knew when to shut up and even the knowing stare of his Mother and the intrigued gaze from Alexis wasn't going to break down his now code of silence on the subject. He even felt rather bashful. Not only had he made things slightly awkward again in less than 24 hours but he actually had intimate knowledge of Kate. It was mind boggling and breathtaking all in the same moment. Either way, it was important to swing the topic of conversation back to its original intent.

"Anyway, our cover is simple. We are on our honeymoon, that way it won't seem strange that we want the entire cabin to ourselves. Our names are Riley and Katherine Burns and we are from DC. If anyone asks what we do, we can use my favourite; we work for the government. No more, no less," he continues.

"Wait. How come you get to change your name and I don't?" Kate questions, eyebrow raised.

"Well, I've gotten so used to calling you Kate that I don't think I can stop, so at least if I do say your name it wouldn't be a mistake and could be easily explained away. Plus we did agree that it's my identity that would be the give away," he counters.

Kate rolls her eyes and accepts his theory. So far, it was all sounding manageable.

"I've requested the cabin for a month. I figured that any longer might seem odd. I don't want to attract attention from perceived wealth," he points out.

"What will we do if the month goes by and there is no word from the guys?" Kate asks him quietly.

"I would have thought up the next part of the master plan by then. Though I hope it won't come to that. Come on, let's go and destroy my perfect quaff with this hair dye," he grabs her hand and helps her out of her seat.


	6. Come Fly With Me

_No copyright infringement intended_

* * *

Rick sits on the lid of the toilet in the small bathroom on the plane wearing a garbage bag like a tee shirt while Kate prepares everything on the bench space.

"I think this will make you look quite striking, Rick," she tells him as he leans forward in preparation for the dye.

"As long as you still find yourself attracted to me I guess I can live with it, " he smiles.

"Well it was your idea after all," she rolls her eyes.

After some time the dye is finally applied, she instructs him to sit still and wait for the transformation. Of course, Rick, not one to sit and twiddle his thumbs was not a fan of the idea but the thought of sitting out with his family whilst wearing a garbage bag was even less appealing.

"Can't you stay here and keep me company?" Rick asks.

"It's too cramped in here, not to mention peroxide stinks!" Kate exclaimed.

Rick pouts, "I'll remember this,".

"Yeah? Well, I guess I'll just have to make it up to you later," she raises her eyebrows at his smile.

"So, twenty minutes and I can wash it out?" He questions.

Kate sets the timer, "Yes, twenty minutes, you should be able to see in the mirror yourself when it's done,".

"Okay, I guess I'll be the new and improved me in twenty; catch you later sweet cheeks," he leers.

She raises an eyebrow, looking him up and down; unimpressed.

"Too much? He questions, looking like a kid and trouble.

Kate just rolls her eyes and closes the door on her way out.

* * *

"Kate! How is Richards hair coming along?" Martha asks as soon as Kate takes her seat.

"I think it will turn out alright, Martha. I dare say he will look quite different," Kate announces, imagining what he would look like, beach blonde, tan muscular body.

"I'll drink to that!" Martha raises her glass in salute, Alexis smiling and shaking her head.

"Are you looking forward to spending time with your Mom, Alexis?" Kate asks her.

"I don't see her very often, so I'm sure it will be nice," Alexis replies, not really answering the question.

"I know you and your Mom are very different, Alexis. Don't feel that you need to censor your own feelings because of me. Our family situations have both been very different," Kate smiles.

"I understand what you're saying, Kate. I just, I don't want to seem ungrateful. I'm sure you would do anything to be able to spend time with your Mom; but you can't. Then, here I am barely able to say anything nice about my own Mother. I should be thankful that I still have one," Alexis says sadly.

"Thank you, for thinking of my feelings, Alexis. It is alright though. I won't think any less of you and it won't make me sad. I know enough about Meredith to understand your feelings," Kate concluded.

"Okay," Alexis replies shyly.

"Oh! Richard, I do believe blonde quite becomes you," Martha cheerfully announces.

Kate turns to see the results and is struck by how much the colour brings out his eyes.

"Wow, Dad. You look so different," Alexis adds.

Rick turns to Kate to see what she has to say and sees it written all over her face.

"What do you think, Kate?" He smiles knowingly.

"I think I might still find you attractive," she says in her most serious tone of voice, as though she may not be sure.

"I guess we'll just have to find out," Rick wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, moving to sit next to her and placing his hand on her knee.

"Young person on board who is becoming seriously grossed out," Alexis interrupts their whispers of sweet nothings.

Kate abruptly pulls back from Rick, apologising whilst turning as red as a tomato. Rick manages to appear slightly put out, but certainly not sorry for his actions.

Martha smiles, "leave those two lovebirds to it, Alexis. If they move any slower I won't live to see a single grandchild!"

This time Rick has his panic face on and his arm around Kate, who just smiles shyly.

At least it wasn't scaring Kate off, he thought. She was still holding his hand and quietly listening to the hushed tones of Martha and Alexis discussing what Martha's hypothetical grandbabies would look like. It appeared almost as if the idea pleased, Kate. She was resting her other hand on her stomach and he noticed her looking down, perhaps imagining the possibility.

He interrupts her reverie, whispering in her ear, "After the other night, there is always the possibility...," he doesn't finish his sentence.

She looks to him, a little shocked that he had honed in on her thoughts and a little worried that he could be right. They hadn't used any protection the evening that she had come to him.

"It's not that I'm ...I'm not opposed to the idea of having a family with you, Castle. I just don't want to put any more lives at risk than I already have," she says switching back into Beckett mode.

"Hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sorry I brought it up, I didn't mean to worry you.

"I know you didn't," she whispers back to him, and kisses him soundly.

"We'll have to be more careful, at least until some of these things resolve themselves," he replies softly.

"I just hope they do," Kate ends the conversation resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes, changing her mind about wanting to have a child. It wasn't the right time.

It wasn't much longer when the plane started to descend. Alexis and Martha were starting to look a little nervous. No doubt concerned about what would happen and if everyone would stay safe.

Rick was preparing things for easy departure down below. He and Alexis would be getting off the plane together and getting into a town car. They would then swing by the hangar to collect their luggage, that's when Rick and Martha would swap places and she and Alexis could start their holiday.

Rick had told her that the bike could stay with the plane, and that they would take another car. He truly had taken care of everything.

The warning light came on for seatbelts and Rick took his seat, signalling thumbs up that everything was ready.

As the plane landed and was taxiing to its drop off point, Rick was up and out of his seat hugging Alexis and Martha and reassuring them that it was all for the best.

He kisses Kate quickly, "I'll see you soon," he smiles.

"This really is very clandestine, isn't it?" Martha speaks to Kate.

"Oh definitely, I can tell Rick is enjoying himself," Kate replies.

"You'll look after each other?" Martha asks, though not really asking.

"Of course, Martha. Everything will be fine. We are probably being overly cautious, if anything, but we couldn't risk not being safe. I'm sorry that you'll have to deal with Meredith, Rick mentioned you weren't fond of each other," Kate apologises.

"For Alexis's sake I can be civil," Martha replies with a smile.

The plane starts to move again, on its way to the hangar.

"I guess we can only hope that the situation becomes stable and we won't be out here forever," Martha tells Kate.

"Yes, we can only hope. I'm sure they'll take care of things back in New York. Captain Gates will be all over this case," Kate relies, hoping that she is right.

* * *

**Hope I still have some readers.**


	7. Let's Go

**No copyright infringement intended. **

**a.n. I know I've said before that despite the season of this story that I was going to make it snowing in big bear (I've only ever been when it was snowing) but my brain knows it makes no sense so I take it back. It's just cold, with no snow because in reality, it would be summer. **

* * *

The plane finally stills inside the hangar.

"I guess this is goodbye," Kate reaches over to embrace Martha.

"Oh Kate, this is just goodbye for now, I am positive that things will sort themselves out and I'll be seeing you and Richard in no time," Martha asserts.

"See you soon, Martha," Kate smiles letting go of her hand and stepping out the door of the plane and down the steps, Martha following closely.

As soon as her feet touch the ground it's obvious that everything is just about ready to go. Rick and the pilot are loading the last of the bags into the two different cars a parked inside the hangar. The first is a white town car, the second a black SUV.

"Kate?" Alexis calls.

Turning around Kate catches sight of the teenager leaning over the roof on the opposite side of the town car. Rick had obviously already said his goodbyes, by the looks of Alexis's red eyed worried expression.

"Alexis," Kate smiles.

"Be safe up there," she sighs.

"We will, Alexis. Please don't worry, we are as far away from our troubles to be safe enough," Kate explains.

"You mean, your troubles?" Alexis lets slip.

At Kate's mortified look Alexis quickly back peddles with a look of alarm, "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine, Alexis. You're right. I've brought a lot down upon your family and I have no right to be here. If there was another way, I mean, maybe I could just-" Alexis cuts Kate off.

"No! Kate, stop, I'm sorry. What I said, it came out wrong. I'm glad Dad is taking you somewhere safe. I may not like that plans have had to change but if I know my Dad, and I do, he would follow you to the ends of the Earth. I much rather appreciate that you are willing to follow _him_ this time, at least you are both more likely to be safe," Alexis explains.

"Oh," Kate doesn't know how to respond.

"I can't hold any of this against you, Kate. You say that you love my Dad, and I know that he loves you. I just want him to be happy, and you make him happy. Plus, I have always liked you. You're not like some of the other women that Dad has dated. You're different, I guess Dad was kind of right when he said you were extraordinary," Alexis smiles.

"Thank you, Alexis. It means a lot to me that you don't hate me," Kate replies.

Alexis just nods, and then waves her goodbye and sits back in the town car leaving the door open for her grandmother, who is saying her goodbyes to Rick.

They finish and Rick stands back to put his arm around Kate to watch them leave.

Martha turns back to take one last look at her son and his beautiful companion and smiles, "Have fun, kiddo's!"

"I'll see you ladies soon," Rick says, blowing a kiss them as the door shuts.

The car leaves the hangar and Kate hears Rick release a breath on a sigh, "looks like it's just you and me now," he smiles reassuringly.

"I'm sorry that you've had to split up," Kate tells him.

"Don't be, they'll have a ball regardless, and I'll have you all to myself, he holds her. The moment takes a more heated turn when the embrace becomes a passionate kiss. "Come on, let's go," Rick pulls away suddenly tugging Kate's hand to lead her to their SUV, both breathless.

* * *

It seemed like forever travelling down skinny roads in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains. Rick had insisted on taking the long route, it appeared they weren't being followed and it would have been obvious to them if they had been.

Kate had spent the majority of the time wondering about what Gates would be thinking once she realises what has been happening. For once though, she didn't really need to be focussed on Gates, she knew that having left with Castle made her effectively removed from the case. She tried to believe that it was left in good hands, but how much did they really know about Victoria Gates? If Montgomery had his hand in the problem what was to say that Gates, a ladder climber wasn't involved?

These issues were all moot points. There is nothing further that can be done. They had to run, run and hide until things had been sorted. At least she wasn't running alone, she hadn't pushed Rick away anymore. He really was her champion.

Rick had noticed Kate's internal reverie and decided to let her process her thoughts in peace. So much had happened in such a short time, especially concerning their relationship which had been a dormant passion up until last night. Within a day things had taken a dramatic turn, unforeseen by all of them. He was thankful that the gang had taken to listening instead of arguing. That they understood the amount of shit they'd all fallen in. Even Lanie had been almost too shocked to make threats.

The ball was in their court now, he knew he had the support of their friends but Gates may be another story. Once she is fully informed of this issue he can only hope that she goes bulldog on it. There is nothing else left.

It isn't long before the car starts ascending a mountain, and Kate realises that they have reached their destination. They travelled higher and higher, and she didn't want to think about how far down the bottom was. After the roof hanging incident the idea of falling had been particularly heart stopping.

"Look!" Rick points to a sign as the ground levelled out. '_Big Bear' _stood in big letter surrounded by light. Everything else around the sign appeared to be woods, but as they followed the road in further they could see across a large lake; house lights.

"Do you know the way to our cabin?" Kate asks.

"Well, I know it's along this road, and there should be a big tree," Rick, explained a little puzzled. "According to what I read online it should be right past a Carl's Jr's," he continues, concentrating.

"A big tree? That's your navigational mark? Have you not seen how many 'big trees' there are up here?" Kate scoffed.

"All I know is that it's a Bed and breakfast that you can't easily see from the road, I'll remember the name when I see it," he pouts. "Actually, I remember, it's called 'Eagles Nest'," he chuffs in satisfaction.

"I'm sorry," Kate apologises. "I'm just really tired, and a little bit hungry. I mean, I can't even decide how I feel. On the one hand I'm excited to be here with you and on the other I feel disappointed that I've had to run away like a coward, disrupt your family, drag you all into this mess," Kate hangs her head miserably.

"Hey," Rick reaches over to put his hand reassuringly on her knee. "This isn't your fault, nobody ever could have predicted just how serious this was going to get. You're certainly not a coward. I've had a difficult time dragging you away; remember?" Rick smiles alluding to the fact that they had almost dissolved their entire partnership because she couldn't walk away.

"I can't believe you can joke about that already. You should be so angry with me, I don't understand your capacity for forgiveness," a tear falls and Kate doesn't even seem to realise that Rick has found the lodge and parked.

"I'm sure there will be times when we are angry with each other, Kate. But I will always forgive you, that's what happens when you love someone, you can't help it. Your love for them will always win out over anger, if you truly love them. I guess that's how I know I love you so much," Rick tells her honestly, wiping away the tear and holding her cheek.

Kate looks at him finally, with that breathtaking look in her eyes that tells him how much she feels his love and it shines back at him. Still holding her face delicately he leans over and kisses her, both of them trying to express everything they felt in that moment.

Eventually, Rick pulls away, "We're here," he announces, smiling at her.

Kate takes in the surroundings, there is a big log cabin to their left that she assumes must be the main building. Across from that are the owners lodgings and up further past that are some single cabins. They all looked homely and relaxing.

It was fairly late in the evening, but the owners knew they would be arriving late and it wasn't long before a man came out with some keys to meet them and direct them to the largest lodge.

The tall skinny man named Mark, let them in to the ponderosa style log cabin. It was nice and warm inside. There was a log fire and a large lounge room space.

"In the mornings we all meet for breakfast down here," Mark tells them, pointing to a table. "You've booked all five rooms so you'll have it all to yourselves the rest of the time," he explains, not questioning the fact that they'd booked the entire cabin.

He hands them the main door key and then asks which room key they wanted.

"We'd like one of the upstairs rooms, please," Kate answered.

"Alright, I'll show you around first and you can decide what would suit you best," Mark replies.

There are two rooms at the very top of the stairs. One named Butch and Sundance and the other named the Hallelujah Trail. The movie references not lost on either of them because the entire cabin was full of memorabilia.

One look at Butch and Sundance and Kate had decided that the Hallelujah Trail was going to work out best. Rick Thought Butch and Sundance was cosier. The bed was right underneath the slant of the roof and Kate's first thought was that there wasn't enough room for her to sit above him in bed.

Though slightly embarrassed that her first thought had been about sex, Kate lost no time in quietly whispering into Rick's ear her issue with the room. It was almost comical to watch his reaction. His eyes bulged and it didn't help that he turned to look at the bed and ceiling again for confirmation. Then he ran back to Hallelujah Trail and shouted from within, "We'll take this one!".

Kate just shook her head and smiled, not looking at Mark who was trying not to laugh. "I'll see you two in the morning, and he we can all get properly acquainted, goodnight," he tells Kate.

Rick was quick to run back downstairs and get all their things from the car. He'd really only had time to pack one big bag but considering they were supposed to be on their 'honeymoon', he figured it didn't look strange and that they could buy whatever else they needed at Kmart.

Kate sat on the bed in their room before flopping onto her back staring up at the ceiling, noticing its distance from the bed and chuckling. She couldn't believe what had come over her. Here they were, practically running for their lives and her first concern was that she'd never be on top. Not that there was anything wrong with being beneath Rick but she loves the way his pupils dilate as he watches her and of course she likes having control.

She covers her eyes with her hand, "God!" She groans. She had sex on the brain, big time.

Needless to say, when Rick arrived back in their room, dinner was long forgotten.

* * *

**Thanks for reading.**


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